Archive for the ‘gold smuggling’ Category

More Jihadis are arrested in Chennai thowing doubt that Chennai might be becoming hub of Jihadi terrorists links with ISIS!

Haroon Rasheed, son of Mohammed Ali Jinnah arrested on 04-07-2017: Chennai formerly known as Madras has become hub of ISIS terror, as more and more arrests unfortunately, gives such a picture. Ironically, the media has been selective, casual and not so careful in reporting the news and giving factual details about the arrested, their links with locals and aboard and how they have been collaborating and conniving with each other. The media persons always use “suspected”, “sympathizer” and so on without conveying the terrorism, inhuman killings and the most dangerous task carried on by the IS. Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on 04-07-2017 [Tuesday] detained a suspected Islamic State (ISIS) handler from Chennai, reported news agency ANI[1]. The accused, identified as 30-year-old M. Haroon Rasheed [36], is suspected of collecting and sending funds to the terrorist organisation[2]. Haroon Rasheed, son of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Sarkarai street[3]. He had made three donations to ISIS and he was tracked through those transactions[4]. So he has made just three donations to IS. But, how does he know IS and how he donated money? As a Mohammedan or Muslim, has he donated? He does not have any sympathy for the men, women and children getting killed all over the world through the suicide bombing, bomb blastings and other type of jihadi beheading etc?

Haroon Rasheed came to Chennai in 1987 and is a mobile phone dealer: “On Monday, he closed his shop at Burma Bazaar around 10.45 pm and went to meet his friends near Muthialpet Post Office. That is when the Rajasthan team picked him up. Rasheed was taken to his home, and an inquiry was held with his family members too,” said an official with the city police requesting anonymity[5]. “During preliminary inquiry, Rasheed said he usually gave money to ‘couriers’ to bring mobile phones from Dubai, including `60,000 recently. But we are looking into the terror angle behind these financial transactions,” said the source in Rajasthan police[6]. Sources in city police intelligence wing said Rasheed was a native of Ramanathapuram district, who had come to Chennai about 30 years ago i.e, in 1987. He was into mobile phone business, including importing them from abroad. Sources said he was the main dealer for a private mobile phone company. Based on Rasheed’s request, his elder brother Imran Khan was allowed to accompany them to Rajasthan.

“The Hindu” way of reporting: The accused was detained from Burma Bazaar area in the city on Tuesday morning following information from two accused, Mohammed Iqbal and Jamil Ahmed, who are already under the custody of ATS[7]. Haroon reportedly runs a mobile phone shop in the area[8]. “The Hindu” reported that[9], “Preliminary inquiries have revealed that the suspect was running a CD shop in Burma Bazaar in Chennai.”, however, it [its special correspondent[10]] started with, “Sleuths of Rajasthan’s Special Operations Group zeroed-in on the hideout of Haroon Rasheed (36) in Mannadi and apprehended him on charges of organising funds and manpower for the banned terror outfit.”! The report states that Haroon is alleged to have transferred funds to the tune of Rs 5 lakh to ISIS fighters abroad and has been taken to Jaipur for further questioning and investigation[11].

Gold smuggling to ISIS recruitment / funding: The ATS had also traced an operative recently in Thiruvallur[12]. It was said that the person in question Jamil Ahmed was a fund raiser for the outfit. There have been reports of several individuals joining the Islamic State in Syria from Tamil Nadu and Telangana. In fact, in Chennai itself, there have been arrests of such handlers. Now, it is believed that nine people, including one from Telangana and eight from Tamil Nadu, had joined ISIS in the year 2016. A senior SOG officer said the arrest had been made based on information they got while questioning Mohammad Iqbal, 32, of Mylapore, who was arrested on February 23 2017. Iqbal had allegedly played a role in transferring funds to ISIS through an agent in Mumbai, identified as Jameel Ahmed. Inquiries with Jameel Ahmed and Mohammad Iqbal revealed that they were part of a gold smuggling racket busted on February 4, 2017[13]. On February 4, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized 20 gold bars weighing 3.360kg and Rs 1 crore in cash from four people travelling in an omnibus from Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh to Chennai[14]. The DRI arrested Iqbal (not Mohammad Iqbal who was arrested in Mylapore), Jameel (an associate not linked to the ISIS cash transactions), Jahabuddin and Nizamuddin when the bus reached Arambakkam in Tiruvallur district. The arrests were made based on a tip off from the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Now, on 04-07-2017 [Tuesday], after arresting Rasheed, the SOG team obtained a transit warrant from a metropolitan magistrate court in Chennai and left for Rajasthan with him. The Special Investigation Division CID of the Tamil Nadu police is also probing the background of the Rasheed and others. The police said there were reports of some people in Tamil Nadu and Telangana joining ISIS. It is believed that nine people, including eight from Tamil Nadu and one from Telangana, joined ISIS in 2016. The police said four college students were in regular contacts with Mohammad Iqbal. The police were keeping a tab on their activities. In April 2017, it was reported that an NIA source told Express that the consignment was sent from Washermanpet in North Chennai to Madurai by a group of youth arrested last August in connection with several low intensity blasts in various parts of South India. The addresses from which the parcels containing the explosives were sent and received belonged to the five youth[15] –

N Abbas Ali (27) ,

Mohammed Ayub Ali (25),

M Samsumdeen Karim Raja (23),

S Karwa Samsumdeen (25) and

S Dawood Sulaiman (25).

Of these, four were arrested by NIA in August 2016 in Madurai and Dawood Sulaiman was nabbed in Chennai. NIA suspects they were involved in 15 blasts reported in different parts of the southern states[16].

Chennai becoming hub of Jihadi terrorism: In November 2016 also several Muslim youth were arrested for bombing. Sulaiman, who was working as a systems analyst in a leading IT company’s office on Old Mahabalipuram Road in the city, was arrested afternoon of Nove,ber 28, 2016, soon after he arrived here from his native city of Madurai. The previous night, NIA sleuths had arrested three persons from the temple town of Madurai in the south of the state. Sources said Sulaiman was staying along with his friends in a rented accommodation in Thiruvanmiyur. Official sources said Dawood had gone to Madurai during the weekend and met the other arrested suspects — Abbas Ali, Md. Ayub Ali and Samsum Karim Raja. The three persons were arrested by NIA from the temple town[17]. Sulaiman alone managed to leave the place and later boarded a bus to Chennai on Sunday [27-11-2016] night around 11 pm . “He reached Chennai on Monday [28-11-2016] morning and was nabbed by the NIA sleuths,” a source said[18]. All these incidences cannot be treated as isolated or not connected, as they have been working together with common target of attacking innocent people of India only on the pretext of Jihad, implying that they have been hardened with such hatred of killing. Therefore, Indians have to be careful in identifying, watching and informing the authorities about the movement of this type of terrorists.